Wúxī 2024 June 08

Woke up later on the morning of the 8th after getting back to Ricky’s apartment around 0500 or whatever. Cynthia was still with me and we stayed in bed.

I struggled to make contact with Jack, who had gone missing in action earlier that morning while partying. Jack and I were supposed to meet up and catch a train to Wúxī to group up with Joe.

At some point Jack reached out to me that he was, in fact, alive, and en route to Ricky’s apartment. I got up, showered, and changed clothes. Cynthia followed and, once she was ready, we went outside to await Jack’s arrival.

Jack’s ride-share pulled up a few minutes later; He had been laying down sleeping across the back seats. Jack and I hailed a new ride-share to take us to the train station and Cynthia caught her own ride back to Jìng’ān district.

It soon became apparent that the train station Jack had purchased our tickets from was not the train station he thought it was, and that we were much further away than originally believed. We were already late and very likely to miss our train. We asked our driver to go quickly, but of course he could only go as fast as the law would allow. Getting stuck in traffic within an underground tunnel that seemed to go on forever did not help.

Jack and I missed the train. The train was already gone by the time we made it to the station. Jack and I made our way into the station (which was flooded with a sea of people traveling for Dragon Boat Festival) and waited in line to speak with a ticketing agent. Thankfully, we were able to re-book business-class tickets for a later train that day. Unfortunately, this meant we wouldn’t make it into Wúxī until evening. Jack contemplated driving to Wúxī, but we opted to just wait for the next train after being quoted prices more expensive than our business-class train tickets. Jack and I went upstairs of the train station and ordered some McDonald’s for late lunch while waiting.

Business class was phenomenal—so much better than anything you’d experience in business class on an airline. The train ride to Wúxī was short, approximately 40 minutes; At the time I wished I could have remained on the train for its full 8-hour route so I could stay in the comfortable seat and sleep. Jack and I got off the train at Wúxī station and went looking for Joe who was waiting at the station to escort us to his apartment.

Joe found us and we all took a ride-share to his apartment. I got my first views of Wúxī and a quick lay of the land from Joe. Jack was already very familiar—he used to live in Wúxī.

Wúxī is a very nice “suburban city” of sorts outside of Shànghăi. It sits along Lake Tàihú, and is known as “the pearl of Lake Tàihú”. It’s a clean, modern, very cosmopolitan city and major tech-hub in the region. Unfortunately, it’s also extremely in debt from local government mismanagement and major infrastructure investments. The debt situation doesn’t seem to have any effect on the condition of the city nor the lifestyles of the residents. Wúxī would for sure be a great place to live—more affordable than Shànghăi, lots more nature, and more quiet and intimate than the giant, sprawling metropolis it borders. Joe mentioned that, probably in the next 10–20 years, Wúxī and the other surrounding smaller cities will probably just get consumed by Shànghăi and become part of the larger whole.

Joe’s apartment was very nice: atop a high floor of a towering apartment building within a gated community area connected via pedestrian courtyards and flanking a river with park area to the back.

Joe welcomed us into his home and introduced us to his family: wife, mother-in-law, and son. Joe’s family was lovely and extremely accommodating. Joe had spent the entire day preparing a meal for Jack and I’s arrival. After a couple beers and a brief tour of the property Joe served us all home-made dinner in three courses.

After socializing, eating, and drinking, Jack and I left Joe’s apartment and made our way to our hotel to freshen up and get ready for the evening. Jack had booked the 5-star Hyatt Regency in the center of downtown Wúxī for our stay.

The plan for the night was: Joe would rendezvous with Jack and I at the hotel and we’d make our way to the grand reopening party of a popular expat bar: Red Lion.

Joe arrived to the hotel and Jack and I met him downstairs to take him up to our room. We all downed a couple beers and socialized a bit before heading out to walk the city.

Joe and Jack wandered around parts of the downtown section of Wúxī searching for some locales. I followed behind them. I think Jack was enjoying being back in Wúxī and covering some of his old stomping grounds. The three of us walked down a major thoroughfare and cut through a park area that included a pond and Chinese pavilion. We went through some shopping center areas and turned back across towards the direction of our hotel. Eventually, we picked up a ride-share which took us to Red Lion.

The party at Red Lion was great! The place was already packed by the time the three of us arrived.

I ran into a Russian girl named Liza who I had known from Fǔshùn years ago back in 2015. It was wonderful seeing her again and catching up. She didn’t seem much interested in speaking to me at length, though—I think there was bad-blood-by-proxy as she and Ricky had dated for years before splitting, Ricky being my best friend, and Ricky having just gotten married to another woman (something everyone seemed to be reminding her of throughout the evening). I made no mention of Ricky’s wedding, but the association between Ricky and I is thick. It was still great seeing her, all the same. We exchanged brief catching-ups and then hung out among our respective posses.

Red Lion was full of foreigners from all different countries. Many different groups and cliques in attendance. I saw a few other guys who I’d met previously in Fùyáng and we spent good amounts of time sharing drinks or escaping outside to the balconies for smokes and deeper conversations. A Serbian economist named “Teddy” who I’d met in Fùyáng spent a good amount of time hanging with me, and we delved into some deep conversations on some pretty interesting topics.

Altogether, the party was brilliant, and I met a lot of awesome people and reconnected with friends both new and old.

Sometime around 0300, give or take, the party began to wind down and Red Lion began to cut everyone off. Jack and I paid and walked out front. Joe followed behind. We discussed where to go next. Joe and I walked across the street and purchased a couple beers while Jack sat down by the road and figured out itinerary. We got a taxi to take us to another bar that others were going to.

I do not remember much about this bar, other than it was downtown and that Joe and I were checking out women. I think we had a long conversation outside prior to entering regarding the prospect of moving to Thailand. We met a couple Russian girls in the bar and I tried to hook Joe up with them. By dawn the three of us had left, highly intoxicated, and I ordered breakfast from a street vendor while Jack ordered a ride-share back to the hotel.

Jack and I crashed once we got to the hotel. At some point I woke up and apparently slept-walked outside through the hallways of the hotel. The slamming of the hotel room’s door woke up Jack who immediately realized I’d left the room and thankfully he successfully retrieved me.